Ascension
by myra
Summary: more than likely one shot. Buffy and the scoobies must prevent another graduation disaster from happening


Disclaimer: Elizabeth is my character. The rest of Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon. Fear Street Seniors and all associations belong to R.L. Stine. I am getting no monetary compensation, just my amusement.  
  
Buffy Summers the Vampire Slayer came trailing into the Magic Box with her visionary Elizabeth Thompson trailing in behind her. Despite the afternoon, the shop was deserted except for the owner and ex-watcher Rupert Giles sitting at the table and reading a book.  
  
In Buffy's hand was a book that was about the size of a novel, which she proceeded to toss on the table by Giles when she was close enough. The title read "Graduation Day".  
  
"See, Giles!" Buffy demanded as she pointed to the book she had thrown to her watcher. "This proves that the senior class is doomed."  
  
Giles looked up at her completely calm, glancing at the book she had shown him. "Buffy, you found a book with a similar title." He rose easily, standing at the side of the table. "It's no more coincidental than those who find the Lottery and think that book will help them get rich." He explained to her.  
  
Elizabeth, who was standing beside by the slayer, walked over and picked up the book, opening it to the first page and handed it back to him. "Look inside." She said simply.  
  
Giles expression turned to puzzlement on the first page. Then he turned to the second page, and his expression went to horror. "Dear god." He murmured as he sat down again and began looking through the next few pages.  
  
At that point they heard Xander, Anya, Tara, Willow, and Dawn walk into the Magic Box, acting perfectly normal.  
  
"Sorry we're late." Anya told her boss as she made her way to the cash register. "Dawn insisted on ice cream. Hey, is it pay day?"  
  
Xander leaned against the counter. "Not like there seems to be any business going on around here." He pointed out.  
  
Dawn looked at her sister and explained, "I was hungry."  
  
"It's okay." Tara told her, standing beside Willow, both of them at the counter with Xander.  
  
Willow was the first of the five to realize Giles was looking even more disturbed as he continued looking through the book in his hands. "What's up?" she asked him.  
  
Giles stood up, still looking at the pages. "It's this book. Buffy and Elizabeth brought it in a few moments ago. It supports what you all found out when you went down to Shadyside because of that vampire." He explained to her.  
  
Xander turned to Giles. "You mean about this years senior class?" he asked.  
  
Giles nodded.  
  
Elizabeth looked at her friends. "They have Danielle Cortez as dead." She told them.  
  
Anya nodded. "Yeah, we already knew that, we were there too, remember." She said.  
  
Buffy didn't seem to hear them as she ran through the names of those who had died before and after the incident. The ones she didn't even know had died. "Deirdre Palmer. Greta Bradley. Jade Feldman. Gary Fresna. Debra Lake. Marta Newman. Ty Sullivan. Justin Thompson. Phoebe Yamura." She listed to them all quietly.  
  
The other five tensed up. "What?" they all inquired shocked. They had all gotten to know those people as they investigated the vampire.  
  
"They're supposed to die, if they haven't already." Elizabeth told them all. "At least according to that book."  
  
Willow stayed in the shock that Buffy had worn when she recited the names from memory. "Deirdre? Imagine how Dana must feel." She gasped.  
  
"Yeah, twins always have a bond, no matter what they act like around each other." Tara said.  
  
"This book shouldn't even exist. Not yet." Giles pointed out as he placed the book down and looked at Xander and the girls.  
  
"Yeah, Liz and I already had that conversation." Buffy told her watcher.  
  
"According to the book," Giles spoke, causing the others to look at him. "It appears one of the girls, Josie Maxwell, cast the spell that started all of this. The Doom Spell. Though I'm not sure why." He told them.  
  
Tara caught on immediately. "Oh, no." She interrupted. "The Doom Spell hypothetically slaughters everything in the vicinity except for the caster. No one I know knows why it does that." She then looked at Giles. "Sorry."  
  
Giles sat down on the tables' edge and smiled. "No, go on." He implored sincerely.  
  
"It's never been reversed, at least not that I've heard. But I guess it could be done, although no one knows what the result of that would be." Tara continued on, looking at everyone in turn.  
  
"But Josie must have found a way to reverse it, right?" Xander asked her.  
  
Tara shrugged.  
  
"Yes, she did. I'm not sure how though." Giles said as he stood up to take the proverbial floor. "Supposedly she completely reversed it, but with some obvious side effects."  
  
"Oh, obviously." Buffy drawled. Everyone ignored her.  
  
"It's just trying to finish, or I guess technically, start it work." Anya replied. Willow could almost swear she was acting defensive.  
  
Buffy missed that. "What do you mean?" she asked.  
  
Anya shrugged, also unaware of Willow's thought. "Just that it is trying to follow through on the reason it was cast. It's typical of such spells." She said.  
  
Willow shuddered, hating to think that there were other spells like that, as well as to know their were other incidents that could ruin graduation, remembering her own coincided with the time the Mayor of Sunnydale tried to ascend into a giant snake demon.  
  
"You mean other Doom Spells?" Tara asked.  
  
"Kinda." Anya admitted.  
  
"This particular Doom Spell has already been put into motion." Giles told them, grim faced. "I'm not sure anything could stop it."  
  
Buffy stood up and started to the back room, where all the weapons were kept. "We're going to try to stop it." She promised.  
  
"Buffy." Giles started.  
  
Elizabeth cut him off, following the slayer. "She's right. We've got to try." She told him.  
  
"They're right." Willow agreed and started walking to the back of the store, where Giles kept the books with the strongest spells. Tara and Dawn followed her. Giles and Xander turned to go help the slayer and the visionary with the weapons.  
  
"Say," Xander asked Giles as they approached the counter. "Is there a chance this Doom Spell knows we were in Shadyside?"  
  
The door opened, and no one noticed the red headed figure enter the store.  
  
Anya heard the bell though, and not looking up she inquired. "Can I help you, valued customer?" When there was no answer she looked up. "Oh. Uh, hi."  
  
The figure stood there and did not respond.  
  
Dawn turned around from a pulling a few books and asked, "Who is it?" when she saw the red hooded figure she screamed and dropped the books on the ground.  
  
"Dawn?" Willow inquired as she and Tara turned around and saw the figure. Her scream also drew out Giles, Elizabeth, Buffy and Xander from the back room. They also saw the creature.  
  
Now that everyone was out, the figure pushed the hood back. It was the face of a grinning, bloody skull with snakes in its eye sockets. There was no other trace of a skeletal figure under the cloak.  
  
"The Doom Spell." Giles whispered, amazed and horrified.  
  
"Or a product of it anyway." Anya replied.  
  
Buffy drew the sword from the sheath she had on her back and stepped forward. "What do you want?" she asked as she took a fighting stance. Willow and Tara had come down the stairs by then and were standing beside Dawn.  
  
"Oh, my god." Willow whispered.  
  
"You cannot stop me, slayer." The bloody skull told them all, but with the snakes in its eye sockets looking directly at Buffy. "I will finish my work."  
  
Anya began to edge toward the guys and Elizabeth, but the skull turned directly to her and demanded, "Stop!" she looked over at it. "You will stay where you are, Anyanka." It told her, using the name she had as a vengeance demon for effect.  
  
Buffy chose this moment to strike. She kicked the figure into the stairs, where it nearly stumbled at the stairs. "No, stop." It demanded of the slayer. She ignored it, throwing several punches that were unsuccessfully blocked.  
  
Elizabeth then took the sword from the sheath at her back, leapt over the counter, moving so quickly that before The Doom Spell monster could respond, she had gone behind it and decapitated it.  
  
The figure collapsed and started to bleed all over the carpet, the skull landed near Buffy's foot.  
  
"That is going to be hard to get out of the carpet." Anya told Xander as the two of them embraced.  
  
The skull's voice was weaker now, but it still spoke. "You cannot stop me, the senior class is doomed. I will prevail."  
  
"Stow it." Buffy said disgustedly, and then crushed the skull under the base of her boot. The skull pieces then vanished, and a moment later the robe followed.  
  
Dawn took a deep breath, stepping toward Buffy and decided to share her observation. "Buffy, the robe the skeleton was wearing, isn't that the one robes the senior class is wearing for graduation?" she asked.  
  
Buffy paused and turned to her sister. "You're right. It is." She then looked at her watcher. "We have to stop the Doom Spell."  
  
"Agreed." Giles nodded as he went over to pick up the books Dawn had dropped and put them up, then went over to the table and grabbed the book Buffy had brought in. "I'll review this and brief you on it, then we can decide upon a course of action."  
  
"Actually, I think I have an idea." Willow stepped forward and told them all.  
  
Elizabeth looked between the watcher and the redheaded whiccan. "Good." She said. "Because if we fail, the senior class of 2001 will be dead. And maybe the world too."  
  
At that point, they heard the back door open, and Buffy took a knife from the strap at her thigh and threw it at the sound.  
  
It struck the door, inches away from Spike's chest. He looked at the knife then at the Slayer. "What?" Spike asked them.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
A few weeks had passed and Graduation Day had come. The whole class was waiting for the valedictorian, Kenny Sullivan, to give his speech. Josie Maxwell had gone back to get him.  
  
"Hey," Josie said as she touched his shoulder. "Everyone is waiting for you to give your speech, Kenny." She then turned him around, and let out a blood-curdling scream.  
  
The skeleton in the red robe, the exact same one that had haunted the senior class all year, faced her. Snakes wriggled side by side from its empty eye sockets.  
  
"Kenny isn't here anymore." The skeleton bellowed in an inhuman rasp and began to move closer to her. "Kenny had to say goodbye, too! But he loaned me this splendid new body yesterday. It's time for me to finish my work. Happy Graduation, Josie!"  
  
Josie started to back up, nearing toward the curtain that would lead her to the rest of the world. She couldn't believe it. She had thought the two vampires Clark and Matty had killed this thing at her graduation party.  
  
Her dead friends and classmates flashed through her mind. Greta, Danielle, Jade, Gary, Marla, Deirdre, Ty, Justin, Phoebe. And now Kenny.  
  
The skeletal figure, the byproduct of the Doom Spell she accidentally cast at the beginning of the year, leaned forward as it inched closer to Josie and...  
  
...The right auditorium doors burst open and Buffy the Vampire Slayer entered. Beside her was her visionary Elizabeth.  
  
From the left auditorium doors came Giles, Willow, and Tara.  
  
Giles now rose his voice to speak over the hushed whispers wondering what was going on. "Evil spirit!" He called out for the skeleton to hear. "We have been tracking you for some time. You have eluded us well. But this is your end."  
  
At that point Josie came from behind the curtains, as did the skeletal figure. But it stopped upon noticing the people it thought had been left behind in Sunnydale. "You dare to defy my work?' it asked them.  
  
"We dare." Buffy said, eyes cold and deadly.  
  
She left her visionaries side and ran the short distance to the stage, and aimed a jump kick at it. The figure intercepted her blow and tossed her to the floor as if she were nothing.  
  
So much for superior strength. Buffy thought as she landed hard on her left arm.  
  
"If you've really tracked me, then you have learned nothing." The skeletal figure cackled as it moved forward, the red robe swirling. "You can't stop me."  
  
Tara looked over at Willow. "It's time to get everyone out of here." She told Willow.  
  
Willow nodded, brought a cell phone to the side of her face and said, "Xander! Scorpion!"  
  
The doors leading to the parking lot burst open, thanks to Xander and Dawn. "C'mon! Move it!" Dawn called as the two held the doors open for the crowd, most of whom were grateful for the chance to leave.  
  
Elizabeth noticed that four seniors stayed behind while the rest of the people filed out. Josie Palmer, Dana Palmer the twin of the late Deirdre Palmer, Trisha Conrad and Jennifer Fear.  
  
"Fools!" the skeleton roared, and then turned toward the four seniors. "If nothing else, I will have your lives!"  
  
That was when Buffy rose from the floor, jumped on the stage and tackled the skeleton to the ground. As they both landed hard, the snakes in his eye sockets snapped at her. The slayer just batted them away.  
  
"Willow!" Elizabeth called out, turning to the redheaded whiccan. "Seal the Doom Spell thing, now!"  
  
As Tara held up an Orb of Thesula from her right hand Willow began to chant: "Ara bareus, loca ra dea."  
  
The skeleton figure turned at the sound of her voice. "No..." it began but a swift and savage jumping sidekick from Buffy shut it up.  
  
"Creature of Darkness, come to me!" Willow called out louder than she did the chanting.  
  
White lights came out of nowhere and began to surround the skeletal figure and Buffy.  
  
"No! Buffy!" Elizabeth called out.  
  
Josie stared in awe, as the white light seemed to drag the slayer and the Doom Spell product toward the orb. "What are they doing?!" she managed to ask.  
  
It was Trisha who answered her. "They're binding the creature in the orb so it can't hurt anyone else." She had answered stunned.  
  
The white light continued to envelope them as Buffy smashed the right side of the skeleton's skull, crushing the bone.  
  
"Buffy!" Xander called out to her. "It's over!"  
  
But Buffy knew the pain she caused it was nothing compared to the pain she had caused was nothing compared to the pain it had already caused to the friends and loved ones of the victims. Like Deirdre.  
  
Her fist shattered the skeletons nose. A savage kick shattered the rib cage, another kick broke the shin.  
  
Buffy finally ended her fight as they were seconds away from being absorbed by the Orb of Thesula. "You'll never hurt anyone again." She promised to herself sullenly.  
  
The light vanished, as did the skeleton. Willow then put the Orb into a small pouch and sealed it.  
  
"It's over." Trisha realized as the four seniors began to stand. "It's really over."  
  
Dana stared at the group as they all converged around the slayer. Then she burst into tears, she had held in so much since the death of her twin sister Deirdre. But a hand on her shoulder made her look up. It belonged to the long brown haired girl who had come in with the teenage male. Dawn.  
  
Giles stood by as the Buffy lead Xander and the three girls up to her sister, and then embraced the four seniors as they all cried, releasing the sorrows they had held all of this year.  
  
"Just wait until you hear about our graduation day." Buffy told them all quietly. "It was a real blast." 


End file.
